An Unopened Book #42

Do you want to be on the forefront of literature? Read the books right of the press, the ink still wet on the page? We handpick the best of the best of the newest of the newest books for you every week. Books that seem interesting to us and that you might like as well.

November is closing down with a book full of geeky tidbits, a YA novel about accepting life’s uncertainties and lastly, a book about women in car racing.

Pop Culture and sci-fi guru Ryan Britt has never met a monster, alien, wizard, or superhero that didn’t need further analysis.

Essayist Ryan Britt got a sex education from dirty pictures of dinosaurs, made out with Jar-Jar Binks at midnight, and figured out how to kick depression with a Doctor Who Netflix-binge. Alternating between personal anecdote, hilarious insight, and smart analysis, Luke Skywalker Can’t Read contends that Barbarella is good for you, that monster movies are just romantic comedies with commitment issues, that Dracula and Sherlock Holmes are total hipsters, and, most shockingly, shows how virtually everyone in the Star Wars universe is functionally illiterate.

Romp through time and space, from the circus sideshows of 100 years ago to the Comic Cons of today, from darkest corners of the Galaxy to the comfort of your couch. For anyone who pretended their flashlight was a lightsaber, stood in line for a movie at midnight, or dreamed they were abducted by aliens, Luke Skywalker Can’t Read is full of answers to questions you haven’t thought to ask, and perfect for readers of Chuck Klosterman, Rob Sheffield, and Ernest Cline.

A heartrending but ultimately uplifting debut novel about learning to accept life’s uncertainties; a perfect fit for the current trend in contemporary realistic novels that confront issues about life, death, and love.

Seventeen-year-old Rose Levenson has a decision to make: Does she want to know how she’s going to die? Because when Rose turns eighteen, she can take the test that tells her if she carries the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease, the degenerative condition that is slowly killing her mother.

With a fifty-fifty shot at inheriting her family’s genetic curse, Rose is skeptical about pursuing anything that presumes she’ll live to be a healthy adult-including her dream career in ballet and the possibility of falling in love. But when she meets a boy from a similarly flawed genetic pool and gets an audition for a dance scholarship across the country, Rose begins to question her carefully laid rules.

Very few know of the important role women played in the early years of car racing. The Artichoke Queen tells the story of Prudence, a young and beautiful hearing impaired woman in the 1950’s. Leaving a troubled home life behind for California, she is thrust into the school of hard knocks, but finds herself drawn to the local car racing scene. Her success there launches her into the regional spotlight, where she becomes a reluctant celebrity and beauty queen, and a dizzying career and romantic relationship ensue.

But Prudence quickly finds herself in over her head: the races riskier, the rewards higher, her romantic life becoming all too complicated, and in an infamously dangerous road race across Mexico – where she is poised for victory and international acclaim – it seems her whole life is finally about to spin out of control.

Shimmering and evocative, tender but tough, The Artichoke Queen is a picture of bygone Americana, back when sex was safe and car racing was dangerous, and captures a groundbreaking woman’s struggle for identity, love, and ultimately, redemption.

Were you lucky enough to get your hands on these books? Send us your review at boredtodeathbookclub@gmail.com so we can share your thoughts!

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